Sealing Carrie's Fate
by Wonder777
Summary: Third story in the "Secrets of Corrine" series. This time, she runs into Carrie, who has a letter for her. The end result will be disastrous for everyone.


_**This is the third story in the "Secrets of Corrine" series. I decided to borrow the scene from the "Petals On The Wind" movie.**_

 _ **"Sealing Carrie's Fate"**_

It was August first and Corrine Winslow had just had lunch with some of her socialite friends. She had just parted ways with them and was deciding where to go and find a present for a friend's upcoming baby shower. _Since Beatrice is having a girl this time around, maybe a pink knitted onesie would do. And of course, matching booties and hat would naturally come with it._ She thinks wandering a boutique, picking through racks. Money was no object to her, she was a Foxworth and if she wanted to, buy every boutique in this town.

But every baby shower brought up memories of her own children. Back in Gladstone with her first husband, she enjoyed the presents brought for her children, especially for Cathy and Carrie. But since she lost her beloved Christopher and returning to her childhood home with their beautiful kids, she couldn't look at a mother and child without almost breaking down thinking about hers locked away.

Yet, she couldn't tell the world the truth. Her father stuck it to her when he stated in his will that if it's ever revealed she had children from her first marriage or in the future, she forfeits everything. Her mother continued to control her even after his death. Even her husband Bart was unnerved by how much control she exerted, often suggesting to her they find a place of her own.

As much as she wanted to give Bart a child of his own, she knew it couldn't happen. That cursed codicil in Daddy's will had made it so she couldn't. If it was found she had children any children, from her first marriage or in the future, she loses her entire fortune. Forced to pay back every cent.

Corrine had walked out and was talking to a friend when they were interrupted by a girl. She turns around and sees Carrie, her youngest daughter standing in front of her. Corrine composes herself as those big blue eyes look up at her. "Momma? It's me, Carrie. Your daughter." She hands Corrine an envelope. She recognizes the handwriting from letters sent to Foxworth Hall over the last year. Her mother always got to the mail first and when these came, forced Corrine to write "Return to Sender" without opening them.

"Corrine, remember your father's will." She said every time, "The public finds out about those kids, you lose it all." As much as she hated Olivia Foxworth, the Hall was all she knew. Her and Bart had nowhere else to go, and even he didn't the kids.

It broke her heart to tell Carrie the words. "I'm sorry, but you must have me mistaken for someone else young lady. I have no children." But the look on her face betrayed her speech. Quickly, she turns away and walks off, cursing Malcolm Foxworth under her breath.

She watched as Carrie lowered her head, tears filling her eyes. She walks off, a completely broken person. The maternal urge within Corrine came boiling over. She calls out to the girl, but she was too far away already to hear her.

Looking at the letter in her hand, her mind floods with memories of how that little girl was attracted to purple and red from the start. It was a lavender envelope with a red ribbon tied around it. Guilt fills her and it takes a while for her to even get it together. _It was better this way, they won't suffer like I did, like their baby brother._ She thinks driving back to Foxworth Hall. _Better hide this letter from my "mother", she would take it from me in a heartbeat._

Bart had managed to get a week away from the hectic business of running his own law firm. After a nice dinner at a restaurant, they took off for a vacation in Virginia Beach. It couldn't get her mind off what happened from seeing Carrie in town. The letter still was hidden in her suitcase, unopened.

After returning to the gloom of Foxworth Hall, she finally had a moment alone while Bart was at work and her mother was out in town. Taking the letter from its hiding place, she opens it and taking out the pages, she begins to read.

 _Dear Momma,_

 _I've been trying to write to you for some time after Cathy, Chris and I came back here. But they keep being sent back. I am a secretary now and am engaged to a wonderful man named Alex. I want you to come to the wedding, so here's the invitation. I miss you Momma, and I want you in my life again. Let us into your world again. Love, Carrie (Dollanganger) Sheffield._

Tears began to form at what she just read. At least one of her children still loved her and reached out to her, easing her guilt just slightly. Brushing her fingers against a picture of her family before she lost her beloved first husband. The happiness she shared ended that night he died.

A knock at the door snaps Corrine out of her sadness and quickly put away the photo. It was a maid, carrying a breakfast tray and the daily paper. She puts it down on the desk and hands her the newspaper before leaving.

Corrine always read the paper, even if it was for the society pages. She read through and reached the obituaries. What she saw there made her want to scream. Carrie, her baby girl, had died after consuming arsenic. Her heart was torn apart again after losing Cory. For days after he passed, she couldn't get out of bed, now this.

Now half of her children were dead, due to her actions. Bart asks what was wrong, but Corrine lied to him, saying Carrie was her goddaughter. It was the closest she could say to admitting she had children and not lose it all.

The day of the funeral came and she managed to get in the church where it was held. Passing herself off as a friend, she sat in the back wiping her eyes as a few people talked about how sweet she was. The young man Carrie was engaged to was torn apart and couldn't finish the eulogy.

Then Cathy and Chris spoke. How her oldest two had grown. By what she had heard, Cathy had a son of her own. _I'm a grandmother now_ , she thought, _Cathy had it better after escaping from the nightmare of Foxworth Hall._

At the cemetery, Corrine hid in the shadow of the trees while watching the burial. Unconsciously, she twisted at the pearl necklace she always wore with the butterfly clasp. While the tears flowed, she kept her sobs silent so as not to be seen.

Near the end, Corrine must have stepped on a branch and made some noise because Cathy suddenly looked her way, so she stepped further into the shadows to avoid detection. But she knew it was too late.

Olivia gave her a lecture that night. "How dare you go to that funeral? Everything we built to maintain your image you jeopardize with this?" She berated Corrine, with the usual banter of Hell and judgement.

Suddenly she stopped. Olivia collapsed in her wheelchair, not able to speak. It was another stroke, more serious than the one a few years earlier. "Mother, I tire of your feeble threats." Corrine tells her before picking up the phone and calling an ambulance. A small smile creeps across her face.

Corrine was tired of her parents running her life and couldn't wait until both her parents were in the ground. United in the Hell they always spouted about everyone but them was headed to. They were just as guilty as she was when it came to how her children turned out.


End file.
